


Kill All Your Friends

by orphan_account



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Black Parade, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Mental Institution, Danger Days Era, Gen, Ghosts, High concept sci-fi rigamarole, Insane!Gerard, Mental Institutions, Minor Character Death, Murder, Not Really Character Death, Past Character Death, also black parade concepts, but not in a bad way, danger days concepts, gerard is right in the end, no violence mentioned so far, psychiatrist Lyn-z
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Gerard Way is doing life in an insane asylum for killing three people. Lindsay Ballato is a psychiatrist working atNewark Hospital for the Criminally Insane. What will happen when part of Gerard's story of ghosts and witches and bodies rings true for her? And how will they convince the world of another one they cannot see?
Kudos: 1





	1. The Only Hope for Me is You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, this isn't beta'd so sorry for any mistakes or plot holes (please tell me in the comments!). This is based off of the Black Parade and Danger Days universes, if they were set in the real world. Lyn-Z is The Girl from Danger Days, and Lauren (MCR's stage manager, RIP) is a nurse. I don't have the story mapped out so if you have ideas for where it could go, let me know.

Gerard Way was doing life in an insane asylum for killing three people. His best friends and former bandmates were all shot point-blank, found lined up in his own house inside white sleeping bags. Lindsay Ballato was a psychiatrist at Newark Hospital for the Criminally Insane. She was the only one Way allowed to touch him, and as such had become somewhat of his personal caretaker over the years. 

Gerard was woken up at 7:15 exactly, just as he always was. Frank gently shook him and he groaned, climbing out of the cold bed and picking up his uniform from the floor. Ray always folded it for him at the end of the day, and made his bed in the morning before the nurses came to let him out. He splashed water over his face and put on the bright orange uniform, complete with socks and a pair of fuzzy slippers Lindsay had given him for doing good in therapy.

A few minutes later, a nurse came to unlock the door. Four boys shuffled out, Gerard leading them. This nurse, Lauren, was his favorite. She knew to leave the door open a little longer so Mikey could get out- he was always last in line. 

“Good morning Gerard, you look well today,” she started hesitantly.

“Good morning Lauren. You look nice today.” He flashed his teeth at her in a not-quite-smile. They didn’t talk on the way to the nurse’s station. Lauren recorded his weight (still steadily dropping, they would need to get on that), blood pressure (he put on the finger clip on his own, no touching required), and gave him his morning meds. Then he was left to wander down to breakfast on his own.

Gerard didn’t like all the noise and bustle in the morning, so his therapy session was actually right after breakfast. He grabbed a coffee (lukewarm, so he couldn’t burn anyone) and headed down to Lindsay’s office, escorted by a guard. Who stayed a healthy few feet away. Gerard had a tendency of getting violent quickly.

“Hello Gerard. Let’s get started, shall we?” Lindsay was a tall bombshell of a woman, with a light accent that made her sound a bit more interesting than the words she said. She wore bright red lipstick every day, which somehow never clashed with casual dress.

Gerard made himself comfortable in the deep blue couch, scooting over so all four of them could sit. He sipped his lukewarm coffee, letting the caffeine rush into his bloodstream just as his meds started to take effect. He shivered, stealing a pillow from Mikey as the world tinged yellow. Nothing else had changed.

“How are your friends today?” She always asked this question first. It really meant, ‘are you done hallucinating now?’ The answer was always the same.

“Well, Ray says that I should get my clothes and sheets washed more often because he says they smell. And Mikey’s here too, because Lauren was on staff today. I finished the book you gave me.”

Lindsay smiled. Not quite progress today, but he seemed to be in a good mood. “So let’s go over your friends again. Tell me about them.” She had done this a few times, just to see if Gerard’s ideas about the world around him ever changed. They hadn’t yet.

“Well, we played in a band together until the Dracs caught us. They seperated the bodies from the souls so Blind could use them. But the Phoenix Witch caught their souls before Blind could destroy them, so they stay here with me in the daytime. At night they have to join the parade.”

“And remind me again about the parade?”

“It’s where you go when you die. Like, for real die. My friends aren’t dead yet so they only have to join the black parade at night. That's when the Phoenix witch picks up new souls to join the black parade. Most of them live in the Graveyard. My friends don’t because they aren’t dead. They live here with me.”

“Tell me about the forest witch. You’ve never mentioned that before.”

“Well, the Phoenix Witch takes souls to the parade. She goes around with a shopping cart to collect them. If you put something of theirs in a mailbox she’ll find it and it’ll help her find them. She’s good with mailboxes.”

“And what does the phoenix witch look like?”

“Well, I’ve never seen her. But her arms and legs are wrapped in red bandages. And she’s covered in black feathers. And she wears a painted mask. She hovers above the ground with her shopping cart and she can meet you if you go outside your body even if you aren’t dead.”

Lindsay looked shaken. She remembered a long time ago, something about Gerard’s story that rang true. She steeled herself.

Lindsay had grown up on the border of Mexico and the U.S. A dry, desolate place, where desperate people banded together to fight for whatever was left of society. As a child, she had witnessed her family being killed in a shoot-out with the American border patrol. At age fifteen, she had been left for dead in the desert, and with no food or water, she saw a vision. A feathered, bandaged humanoid figure with a shopping cart. Who told her it wasn’t her time to join the dead.

Lindsay had always written that off as a heat-induced hallucination. She had woken up next to a painted mailbox in the middle of the desert, with a few bottles of water and a loaf of bread inside its compartment. She owed her life to that mysterious stranger, one that she’d never mentioned to anybody. And now Gerard described her perfectly.

“Gerard, I’m sorry, we need to stop early today. I’ll get you another book tomorrow.”

“Why all the sudden? Are you alright?” Gerard watched her pale face, her manicured hands twitching and sweating. “Did you see the witch?”

She wanted to say no. She knew she should have. She would lose her job over this. But there was no way he could have made this up. No way it could have been coincidence.

“Yes.”


	2. This Ain't a Room Full of Suicides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lindsay meets the gang. They make a plan.

“Gerard, I- I don’t know what to do here. Do I just believe you about everything, just because you mentioned something I saw when I was a kid? What do you want me to do here?”

“Believe me. If the phoenix witch chose you, it means you’re here for a reason. You’re special. She doesn’t pick just anyone to talk to before it’s your turn.”

“But- what does that mean? What am I supposed to do?” Lindsay was freaking out. She didn’t want this to be real. She wanted to go back to thinking poor old Gerard was crazy, and was going to be predictably crazy for the rest of his sorry life in glorified jail. But she couldn’t let an innocent man stay locked up.

“I don’t know. Maybe you can meet my friends. You saw the witch, so you must have some sort of power.” Gerard felt elated. Finally, someone in this hellhole believed him. Years of being condescended to, and now he knew he was right. It felt great.

“Okay, uh, how do I meet your friends? Where are they?”

“We’re right here, dumbass. Stupid lady can’t see us.” Mikey taunted.

“Hey!” She shouted. 

“Did you hear Mikey just now? Can you see him?” Gerard asked excitedly.

“No, I- I don’t know why I said that. I can’t hear anyone.” She was shaken. Lindsay felt annoyed and vaguely mad, seemingly for no reason at all.

“That’s good! You’re having an emotional reaction to what he said. He called you a dumbass, by the way. Lean into your emotions. Feel the people around you. Feel their energy. OPEN YOUR EYES!” He shouted. She shuddered and looked up. Four pairs of eyes stared back.

Lindsay stumbled backwards. Her chair fell to the floor and she backed up to the other corner of the room. Five people were in the room now. There was only supposed to be two. Just her and him. But now, a large man with even bigger frizzy brown hair, a skinny man with bright-blonde tips, and a soft-looking man with windswept bangs were all staring at her.

“Lindsay, I’d like you to meet my friends. Ray, Mikey, my brother, and Frank. Don’t worry, they don’t bite.”

“Ah, hi. I’m Lindsay. Sorry for not believing in you. Have you been here this whole time?”

“Yes. You have no idea how much listening to Gee bitch all day gets to a guy.” The skinny one replied. His brother.

“So what, can we leave now? Can we get out please? Just sign the papers and out we go?”

“Well, it’s more complicated than that. Actually less complicated. No. Not ever. You killed them Gerard, and no one’s going to believe me if I tell them you’re not crazy. If I did that I’d lose my job and you’d still stay here.”

“Aw, come on! There must be someth-”

“I’m going to break you out.”

The next few days were a blur. Gerard spent them getting ready for the outside world- he started exercising, eating again. He joked around with the nurses. He went outside when they let him, breathing in the crisp fall air. He went to bed early and woke up refreshed. He spent his sessions with Lindsay going over their plan.

On Thursdays, the laundry service picked up all the soiled bedding and dirty clothes from the compound. The laundry workers were the only ones allowed into the compound without photo ID. Lindsay would lure one of them into her office, steal their uniform, and give it to Gerard to change into during their daily therapy session. Before the session was over, he would leave through the service entrance looking like a laundry worker. He would hide out near the loading dock until Lindsay could steal away. Then, she would bring her car around and they would drive off. 

Lindsay was fortunate to have a way out of the country. Once she had gotten her medical license, she immediately put a down payment on an old mansion. A few years later, she had discovered an old helicopter in one of the decrepit barns on the property. She had cleaned it up, patched it back together, and learned to fly on weekends. Now it seemed it would come in handy.

Lindsay knew she was made for this. She spoke perfect Spanish. She had a goddamn helicopter. The phoenix witch had chosen her. She didn’t know what was coming, but she was ready. They were going to take the world by storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote this two chapters at a time, and I don't have anything else now. I hope I will get to update this soon (or at all), but don't get your hopes up haha. Constructive criticism or ideas of how the story could move along would be great!


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